


You Gotta Ask the Boy Out

by kanoitrace



Series: Mighty Nein college AU [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Getting Together, M/M, Meddling Friends, They mean well, background jestermauk, hinted one-sided beaujester, t.a. fjord, teacher caleb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 03:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21237785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanoitrace/pseuds/kanoitrace
Summary: Caleb likes Fjord. Fjord likes Caleb. It should be completely uncomplicated. Of course, with these two, it isn't. Enter well-meaning, meddling friends who just want to see them happy together.





	1. Caleb

**Author's Note:**

> I started this approximately a thousand years ago. Now that I have finally finished it, I may or may not (definitely may) hate the first chapter and the beginning of the second. I can definitely tell I was struggling with inspiration at the time. However, overall I am pleased with the idea and to finally get another fic for this au posted! And the second half of chapter two and the ending flowed so well for me while writing it and was quite fun to write, as well! 
> 
> As always, I have no beta, but I tried to clean it up as best as I could with just my own sleepy brain.

“I don’t know. He’s just so freakin’ weird, man. I mean, I guess she’s kinda weird too, but it’s charming, you know?”

Caleb nods along to what Beau is saying, though is does seem like he’s more focused on the papers he’s grading, which is just fucking rude. She gives him a solid shove - not too solid; the guy is made of glass or something, she swears. 

“Dude! Are you even paying attention!?”

Caleb sighs heavily, placing his pen down and directing his undivided attention to his cousin. “Your roommate has a new boyfriend, you think he is weird, you think she is charming weird, and you are unhappy about the situation. Probably because you have a crush on her.”

Beau’s face immediately turns a deep red, shock and anger battling for dominance in her expression. For a moment, Caleb thinks maybe he has broken her, but then she huffs angrily and stands.

“You are such an ass!” she accuses before storming out.

Caleb watches her go, feeling only a small amount of remorse. He knows how this will go -she’ll calm down some after burning off steam, he’ll apologize for being too blunt, they’ll talk it out, hug it out (which is still always awkward), and they’ll both move on.

For now, he has papers to grade.

* * *

In a normal scenario, Caleb excels at all things academic, whether it was studying in his own school days, tutoring in his grad school days, or now giving his own lesson plans and students his full, undivided attention. Now, however, one student in particular has perhaps too much of his attention, to the point Caleb’s focus is straying.

This year, Caleb has a T.A., a half-orc by the name of Fjord, and while he isn’t the large, hulking form of other orcs Caleb has encountered, he is still plenty fit. They’ll be discussing papers that the students have turned in and Caleb will zone out, just admiring the gradient in the green of Fjord’s face. Or he’ll fumble while accepting something from Fjord because he catches a glimpse of lean, muscular forearm, which leads to Fjord chuckling and teasing Caleb about how clumsy he is, which is just an additional level of distracting. It’s gotten to the point of Caleb considering going to the dean of the department and asking for the young (oh gods, he is so much younger, he is technically a student) man to be reassigned, but that isn’t fair to Fjord. He hasn’t done anything wrong - if anything, he has been nothing but spectacular at his duties, and the students seem to love him - and it isn’t on him to suffer for Caleb’s own ill-advised crush.

At least Caleb only has to see him in class or during office hours; it’s truly the only solace he has at this point.

* * *

Caleb’s personal life has been infiltrated, and all he can hear are sirens going off in his head at full volume.

He could have remained uncompromised in that, except Beau begged and pleaded for help with her arcane history paper, and of course she can’t just go to the library like any normal person or take advantage of his office hours, which is ridiculous considering she has no problem bursting in when she wants to rant about her roommate’s boyfriend, but no. Today he had to make the trip out to the women’s dorms to help her, and there is Fjord, still inexcusably handsome, sitting on one of the beds next to a blue tiefling girl who must be the by this point famous roommate.

Does this mean Fjord is the annoying boyfriend? It is true Caleb doesn’t know much about him outside of class. He doesn’t think Fjord could possibly be as obnoxious or strange as Beau finds her roommate’s boyfriend to be, but Beau has been known to hold grudges. Plus, he maintains that most of her ire stems from an unrequited crush at this point.

Fjord smiles at him, and his knees go weak. “Hey, Teach.”

The roommate whips her head back and forth to look between Fjord and Caleb, looking more and more delighted and mischievous with each turn of her head. “Fjord! You didn’t tell me you know Beau’s cousin!”

Fjord chuckles and shit! Caleb needs to stop finding that sound so mesmerizing. “Well, to be fair, Jester, I didn’t know he was Beau’s cousin.”

Beau, for her part, just looks sour and off-put. “Yeah, yeah, great, everyone knows each other, wonderful. Are you going to help me with my paper now?”

“We should go to the student center,” Caleb says, trying not to let his internal panic become an external one. “It seems crowded here, and you are bad about getting distracted.” 

Beau raises an eyebrow at him but thankfully agrees to leave. Caleb already knows he’s going to have to explain himself to her, but right now he’s just grateful she isn’t being as belligerent about this as she very well could be.

* * *

Beau somehow makes it to the student center and works on her paper for an hour before she finally asks, “So what the fuck was all that about back at my dorm?”

Caleb is actually very impressed by the restraint and patience she has managed to display in waiting this long. He tells her as much. From Beau’s expression, he’s lucky she doesn’t try to deck him for that comment. This demonstrates even more strides in restraint for her, but he doesn’t say as much. It’s best not to push his luck too much.

However, none of that stops him from asking a question of his own. “Is he the boyfriend?” Caleb asks.

Beau stares at him incredulously. “What?”

“The half-orc man. Is he your roommate’s boyfriend?” He tries very hard not to come off as too impatient, but he can’t help the feeling that he absolutely must know.

If possible, Beau looks even more concerned about his antics than she normally does. “Uh, no… Pretty sure he’s just an old friend. Think she said something about having a crush on him once upon a time, but he’s definitely not the boyfriend.”

Caleb nods and sighs in relief, which he really shouldn’t have done because now Beau is looking at him in equal parts dawning horror and understanding.

“How do __you__ know Fjord?” she asks, eyes now beginning to narrow.

“He is my T.A.”

Beau presses further, “Okay, and?”

Caleb bites the inside of his cheek and refuses to make eye contact. Really, he just refuses to answer altogether. This is a horrible idea to entertain any of this. He would have been better off just continuing to think that Fjord was Jester’s boyfriend. The relief he has at finding out that isn’t the case is incredibly inappropriate.

He doesn’t say any of this out loud, but Beau can apparently read it all over his face. “You should go for it.”

Caleb looks at her in surprise. “What?”

“Go for it,” she repeats. “Look, I haven’t seen you interested in anyone since Astrid,” she spits the name out like it’s a rotten piece of meat, “so this is big. And Fjord’s a good guy from what I’ve seen.”

“He’s my T.A.,” Caleb repeats, putting extra emphasis into the words.

“Hot.”

Caleb stares at her, deadpanned, until Beau rolls her eyes.

“Okay, so you don’t want to be one of those professors, I get it. Look, I’ll talk to Jester about it, see if she can get a read on Fjord’s side of things. I mean, if he’s into it too, that gets rid of a big part of the problem right? Besides, he’s your T.A., not your actual student.”

Caleb wants to tell her no, absolutely not, but he can’t bring himself to. Beau is right; he hasn’t looked at anyone that way since his and Astrid’s ill-fated break up. He nods slowly.

“If he is also interested and says as much, I would not push it away.”

Beau’s face lights up like she’s at a Harvestfest festival, and she slap him on the back, perhaps a little too heartily. “That’s the spirit!”


	2. Fjord

“Sooooooooooo?” Jester says once Beau and Caleb leave the room, stretching the word out far longer than any normal person ever should. Fjord just quirks an eyebrow at her.

“What, Jester?” he says.

“’What’!?” she shrieks, seemingly horrified that he doesn’t seem to know what she’s getting at. He does know, of course, but this is something he doesn’t particularly feel like indulging her in at the moment. Seeing Professor Widogast outside the classroom was jarring, though not exactly in a bad way. This was just the last place Fjord expected to see him.

“Fjord, how do you know Beau’s cousin?” Jester asks, far more sedate this time, but he can still hear the undercurrent of mischief in her voice.

“I’m his T.A.”

Jester waggles her eyebrows. “Oo la la.”

Fjord narrows his eyes at her now. “You’ve been hanging around that Molly guy too much.”

Now, it’s Jester’s turn to look flustered, her cheeks turning an almost purple color as a blush rises to them. She is, however, quick to recover, as she always is.

“I like Molly! A lot!” she says indignantly, sitting up straighter and even sticking her nose up in the air ever so slightly in order to properly express said indignation. Then she looks at Fjord like the cat who caught the canary.

“Just like you like Caleb,” she sing songs.

Now he knows he’s the one blushing. He can’t even properly deny it to her now, so instead he just stands up.

“I’m leaving!” he declares, which has Jester laughing in absolute hysterics.

* * *

The next day, as he’s taking lunch and grading papers at one of the picnic benches scattered around campus, he looks up to suddenly find Mollymauk sitting across from him. He can’t help the small, involuntary jump.

“Someone should tie a bell around you,” he grumbles.

Molly just smiles a the comment. “Sounds delightful.”

He keeps his eyes on his papers as he asks, “What can I do for you, Molly?” Unfortunately, he’s pretty sure he knows what this is about, and if he’s correct, Jester and her boyfriend really are devils.

“Can’t a man just hang out with another man?” Molly asks with far too much pomp and circumstance. “Does there always have to be an ulterior motive?”

This time Fjord does glance up, raising an eyebrow. “With you? Yes, I’m pretty sure it does.” Granted, if he’s judged incorrectly, Jester is likely to be upset with him for being rude to the guy, but Fjord can feel this in his gut.

They stare each other down, Fjord looking rather unamused, while Molly looks for too amused for any sane person to feel comfortable around him. Finally, Fjord sighs in defeat as he goes back to grading papers.

“What did Jester tell you?” he asks. He hears Molly take a breath, and sensing more bullshit coming, Fjord is quick to cut it off. “No more games, just tell me. I’ll be honest.”

“She told me you like one most interesting professor.”

Fjord glances at him with a quirked eyebrow. “’Most interesting?’”

Molly’s obnoxious grin remains. “Sure. He’s young, enigmatic, and incredibly handsome to boot.”

This time Fjord doesn’t bother to look at him. “Does Jester know you have the hots for him?” It’s a bit of a low blow, but something about the conversation has put Fjord off, made him grumpy.

“Oh, Jester agrees with me.”

If Fjord were a stronger man, he’s pretty sure his pen would have snapped in half, which while physically satisfying, would have created a giant mess, so for once he won’t curse his slight frame. He isn’t even exactly sure what causes him to tense up so much, just that somehow, the idea that Molly and Jester both have the hots for Professor Widogast has him annoyed and on edge.

Molly is also apparently aware of this discomfort, as he starts laughing. It’s at least not an obnoxious or mocking laugh - more just an amused chuckle. One lavender hand reaches out to pat Fjord on the forearm.

“No worries here, pal; Jester and I aren’t looking to bring him in with us. That’s all you.”

Fjord knows he’s blushing, and it just aggravates him more.

“Can you please leave?” he manages to grit out, trying to hold together some modicum of patience and dignity.

This has Molly chuckling more, but Fjord can at least see him moving out of his peripheral vision.

“Enjoy your papers,” he singsongs as he leaves, which at least allows Fjord the opportunity to heave a heavy sigh and unclench all his tensed muscles ever-so-slightly.

He’d thought this stupid crush would be the death of him; he should have known it would be his friends’ endless teasing, instead. 

* * *

Fjord’s life goes on in this way for about another month, becoming nothing short of intolerable once Beau confronts him and asks what his intentions are with her cousin. Considering he’s had no intentions beyond doing his job and muddling his way through his messy feelings, he just storms away. Beau, though, is persistent.

“Look,” she says after cornering him in some remote part of campus. Fjord guesses she might be aiming to kill him where there will be no witnesses. Instead, she continues on rather reasonably, “Caleb’s…. weird.”

Fjord quirks an eyebrow. A stunning endorsement from family, to be sure. Beau seems to notice his expression and is quick to correct, “He’s a good guy, he’s just…. distant, is all I’m saying. He’s had a complicated life and doesn’t really go after what he wants unless it’s books.”

“What he wants?” Fjord dares to ask, and he tries so very hard to ignore the color rising up in his cheeks.

Beau just rolls her eyes. “Yeah, what he wants! And he definitely isn’t going to ask you out because he doesn’t want to put you in an awkward position!”

“Admirable.” Fjord means it, but it maybe doesn’t come off that way judging by the expression Beau shoots his way.

“Damn straight it is!” Fjord’s eyes involuntarily widen. He didn’t realize just how close Beau and Professor Widogast are.

Beau resumes her pseudo-shovel talk a little more calmly. “I’m just saying, if you really do like him as much as Jester says you do, you’ll have to be the one to do the asking.”

“And what if Professor Widogast doesn’t want this?”

This time, Beau lifts a brow. “First of all, maybe just call him Caleb when you ask him out. If you guys want to do all that ‘Professor’ shit in the bedroom, that between you two, but it’s weird to ask him out that way. And I also definitely don’t want to know about it, if you do.”

Fjord is definitely blushing now, no way around it.

“Second, if he says no for some reason, just tell me and I’ll talk to him. It definitely won’t have anything to do with his feelings for you specifically if he does.”

Fjord takes a moment to mull this over, nodding slowly as he does. “Thank you, Beau.”

Beau just shrugs, sticking her hands in her pockets. “I just want to see him happy, okay?”

Fjord can’t help smiling at that, and Beau immediately looks flustered.

“You better not fucking tell anyone I said that, okay?” she demands, and Fjord just laughs.

* * *

It takes another few days for Fjord to work up the nerve to step into Professor Widogast - Caleb’s - office. Even with Beau’s assurances that this is something he wants as well, it’s still slightly terrifying. Ultimately, he doesn’t even come by without an excuse; he’s dawdled so long that he’s finished grading the tests he’s been working on and has to return them anyway.

When he steps into the office, Caleb’s head is down, obviously working on something. He considers just dropping the papers off on the corner of the desk and leaving, but Beau’s face pops into his mind. And Jester’s. And Molly’s. And really, he can’t continue on this way, so he clears his throat.

“Um, Professor Widogast?”

“Ja?” he responds, not looking up from whatever he’s writing.

That wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d been looking for, but then Fjord remembers Beau saying it was weird to call him that anyway, so he tries again.

“Caleb?”

This time Caleb does look up, expression slightly startled and bemused.

When those blue eyes meet Fjord’s, Fjord isn’t quite sure what to do for a moment, stuck in place, but he is also very sure that this is definitely something he wants. He just hopes Beau was right about Caleb wanting it, as well.

Fjord takes a steadying breath and says, “I’m sorry if this is inappropriate, but… Well, would you like to get dinner together one night?”

Caleb’s eyes widen slightly, but otherwise he has no other reaction.

“Like a date,” Fjord clarifies, and immediately wants to crawl into a hole and die. Who is this person that has possessed him and is asking these questions?

“A date?” Caleb parrots.

Fjord nods. “A date.” And in another fit of uncharacteristic confidence, he adds, “Saturday.”

This time Caleb blinks, but Fjord can see the blush rising up on his cheeks, and he’s suddenly so very grateful that Caleb is so very pale. That blush is what reassures him that no matter what Caleb says here, Beau hadn’t been lying to him.

“Fjord, I don’t know if this is completely appropriate,” Caleb says carefully, hands fidgeting with his pen.

Fjord does his best to not to pout petulantly, and he maybe kind of fails because what comes out of his mouth is, “Beau said it was fine if I was the one who asked.”

This time, Caleb’s whole body reacts, jerking up and back. “Beau said…” With a heavy sigh, Caleb puts his head into his hands. “Scheisse, that girl.”

Fjord stands there awkwardly, unsure what to do now, until finally, __finally__ Caleb peeks out from his hands to give Fjord an assessing look. Fjord tries not to make it obvious that the look sends a whole body shiver through him.

“This is what you want?” Caleb asks, and then clarifies, “A date?”

Fjord nods, but also says, “If it’s what you want.”

Caleb’s cheeks redden more at this, but he nods. Fjord also thinks maybe he smiles, but his hand is covering his mouth, so it’s hard to tell. Fjord desperately wishes he could see it.

“Saturday, then,” Caleb confirms. “What time.”

Fjord suddenly realizes he never actually got this far in his head, faltering a moment before blurting out, “Seven?” Shit, is that too late?

Caleb nods again, then shuffles through his desk. He pulls out a pad of paper and quickly scribbles something down before ripping off the piece of paper and handing it over to Fjord. “My personal phone number and address. We can discuss the details more later.”

Fjord stares down at the paper perhaps a little too long because then Caleb asks, “Is everything alright?”

Fjord nods, continuing to look down at the scribbled letters and numbers, absentmindedly saying, “Just thinking it’s no wonder you don’t grade any of the tests.” He freezes and immediately wants to beat himself up and die on the spot. Yes, great, insult the handwriting of the guy you just asked out. Perfect move, Fjord.

But Caleb just laughs, a free, full body laugh, at that, and Fjord can’t help smiling in return. He’ll have to get Beau something as thanks later, especially if this date goes well.

“Hey,” he ventures, grabbing Caleb’s attention once more, “does Beau happen to like fruit baskets?”

And this just has Caleb laughing all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kanoitrace) and to a far lesser extent [Tumblr](http://kanoitrace.tumblr.com/).


End file.
